DIRECTIVE ON POSTING GUARDS
AT THE TAURIDE PALACE
9. XII (22 December) 1917

To the Acting Commander
of the Petrograd District
Kazantsev

Instructions are issued to post guards at the Tauride Palace
in accordance with the directions of the Chief of Security Blagonirov¹
or the Commandant Prigorovskii².

Chair. Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin)

¹ G. I. Blagonirov — Extraordinary Military Commissar for the Protection of Petrograd, Commissar of the Peter-Paul Fortress.
² M. V. Prigorovskii — Commandant of the Tauride Palace.

REPLY BY DIRECT WIRE TO N. V. KRYLENKO

11 (24) December 1917

We agree with your policy. We agree on the electability of the Supreme Commander. Upon your departure, issue orders to the most energetic people so that in Kharkov as soon as possible there should be an abundance of completely reliable troops, and so that the movement proceeds without stopping before any obstacles or any other considerations.

Lenin

LENIN COLLECTION

We are extremely concerned about the lack of energy in the movement of troops from the front to Kharkov. Take all measures, including the most revolutionary ones, for the most energetic movement of troops and moreover in large quantities to Kharkov.

Lenin

Published
from the text
of the telegraph tape

¹ In the direct wire conversation, Supreme Commander-in-Chief N. V. Krylenko reported on the situation at the front, on the struggle against the Central Rada and the entry of our troops into Kharkov, on measures to strengthen the army, on the General Army Congress being held at this time at Headquarters and which raised the question of the electability of the Supreme Commander. Krylenko also reported on the necessity of his trip to Petrograd to make a report to the Council of People's Commissars.

LETTER TO YA. A. BERZIN

[December 1917, before the 24th (January 6, 1918)]

Dear Pavel Vasilievich!

I received your letter. I am replying — forgive me for the haste.

You must rest and rest.

I do not advise you to travel just now.

For the Constituent Assembly we will summon you: give me the nearest telephone number and repeat your letter. Rest for now.

Yours,
Lenin

¹ Ya. A. Berzin (pseudonym — Pavel Vasilievich), who was in Finland at this time in the sanatorium "Khalila," wrote to V. I. Lenin about his state of health, and also reported that in connection with his election as a member of the Constituent Assembly, he would have to depart for Petrograd.

EXCHANGE OF NOTES WITH V. D. BONCH-BRUEVICH

[3 (16) January 1918]

Vlad. Ilyich,

I ask you to tell me precisely right now on what date you spoke in the Mikhailovskii Manege and at what hour they shot at you².

Vl. Bonch-Bruevich

I do not remember. Check the newspapers.

1917 (DECEMBER) — 1918 YEARS

¹ V. D. Bonch-Bruevich — active participant in the October Uprising in Petrograd; was commandant of the Smolny — Tauride district, chairman of the commission for combating pogroms, banditry, and counter-revolution. From 1917-1920 — Manager of the Affairs of the Council of People's Commissars.

² This refers to the attempt on V. I. Lenin's life in the night of 31 December 1917 to 1 January 1918, when he was returning from a rally accompanied by the Swiss Communist F. Platten. F. Platten shielded Vladimir Ilyich's head and was wounded in the arm.

In the night of 2 (15) to 3 (16) January 1918, an extraordinary session of the Council of People's Commissars took place, at which the question of opening the Constituent Assembly and the attempt on V. I. Lenin were discussed. The Commissars congratulated V. I. Lenin on his deliverance from the danger that threatened him.

The Council of People's Commissars recognized it necessary to issue a warning that "the workers' and peasants' government will respond with terror if there are further attempts on the representatives of the Council of People's Commissars" (Central Party Archive, Institute of Marxism-Leninism at the Central Committee of the CPSU).

EXCHANGE OF NOTES WITH M. S. URITSKII

[5 (18) January 1918]

To Uritskii:

At what hour was the volley fired? 10? [unclear] What place on Shpalernaya? Between Liteiny and Znamenskaya?

—Answer here itself! Lenin

Approximately at 10¼—10¾ between Voskrensenskaya and Tavricheskaya on Shpalernaya. The glass broke on the left side. The volley was from above, apparently from the right.

M. U.

¹ M. S. Uritskii was appointed in November 1917 as commissar over the "All-Russian Commission on Elections to the Constituent Assembly." The note was written on the day of the opening of the Constituent Assembly.